Monday, June 15, 2015

Customers do the darnedest things, part 3,657

"There's something wrong with my brakes."

Look closely at where the barrel adjuster for the lever has ended up.

The rear tire was weirdly worn only on one side, like it would be on a car with bad alignment. We finally figured out that the intrepid young rider had been foot-braking against the tire to make up for the lack of a functioning rear brake.

Here's the front quick-release on the same bike:
Neither wing-nutted nor closed correctly, it was jammed up tight with the handle sticking out like that. You can just make out the mangled spring sticking out by the fork, too.

If you ever needed proof that bicycling is basically a safe activity and that humanity is bizarrely protected from the consequences of its own thoughtlessness, here it is. Disaster did NOT occur. Eventually, they got the bike to the bike shop and the nice mechanics made everything all right. No problem!

Your results may vary, of course. Having things properly connected is always a better idea than just stuffing it together in some vague approximation. You could be the unlucky one who actually has something come apart so badly that you're in no shape to enjoy the lawsuit afterward.

3 comments:

Steve A said...

Of course, such make life more difficult for us that don't NEED "lawyer lips" and such...

NHcycler said...

That recent big Trek road bike recall due to loose qr levers flopping around and jamming into the brake disk vents lowered my estimation of the average rider's IQ.

As to your referenced customer, I thought it was "cool" to go brakeless -- or am I out of style again?

cafiend said...

I thought the brakeless fad was mostly a BMX thing or an affectation of the bolder fixie hipsters. The BMXers do the shoe-braking thing, while the fixsters lock up the wheel by stopping pedaling. Both are abusive to body parts and equipment, but if it makes them feel good about themselves it will be hard to talk them out of it.

America's uneasy relationship with the quick release lever has only gotten more complicated as "safety" features have been added.